contact print

noun

, Photography.

1. a photographic print made by placing a negative directly in contact with sensitized paper, with their emulsion surfaces facing, and exposing them to light.

contact print

noun

1. a photographic print made by exposing the printing paper through a negative placed directly onto it

Word History and Origins

Origin of contact print¹

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

Once dry, he presses a piece of glass against the materials, which results in a contact print.

From Los Angeles Times

Fresh from an assignment—it might have been Prague, or London, or Nigeria, or Zambia—Priya told us stories of his travels and showed us contact prints.

From The New Yorker

The magazine donated its New York archives to the museum in the 1950s, and for years the negatives and contact prints were buried in its basement.

From New York Times

Ms. Kurland’s black-and-white contact prints of domestic scenes are an interesting supplement to her better-known color portraits.

From New York Times

Back home, he had some negatives enlarged into single images, and fashioned many tiny contact prints into photocollages that bespeak a slightly crazed obsession.

From New York Times